The chair and other non-executives on the Aviva board could lose some of their 2018 fees over its ‘fiasco’ of an attempt to cancel its non-redeemable, high-yielding preference shares, and internal directors are also likely to face a penalty.

While executive remuneration is by design variable the decision to slash non-executives fees for external advice would be highly unusual. The company made the admission at a heated AGM yesterday as shareholders accused the business of blundering into a ‘calamitous and self-inflicted’ wound.

The insurer incited investor fury – and a later warning shot from the regulator – after it said it would cancel its preference shares at par, knocking their value from a previous premium. It was later forced into a u-turn and has offered to compensate any investor who sold their stake at the bottom.

Aviva chair Sir Adrian Montague said: ‘We will come to the question of remuneration for the management and the board in due course.’ He added that any ‘reputation implications’ remaining to be resolved following the conclusion of an inquiry would also be addressed, the Times reported. ‘We will not flinch from that.’